Almost 30 years ago, Super Mario Bros. was set loose on the world. Shigeru Miyamoto’s platformer defined a generation of games and the childhoods of millennials. It’s where many gamers got their start, stomping on Goombas and Koopa Troopas. Just… Continue Reading →

Almost 30 years ago, Super Mario Bros. was set loose on the world. Shigeru Miyamoto’s platformer defined a generation of games and the childhoods of millennials. It’s where many gamers got their start, stomping on Goombas and Koopa Troopas. Just in time for the series’ big anniversary, Nintendo is releasing Super Mario Maker on the Wii U. It’s a title that puts players in the game designer’s chair and lets them create their own levels.

Nintendo is essentially following the path that LittleBigPlanet set forth in 2008. But Super Mario Maker could have even more success with user-generated content because of a built-in advantage. The franchise invented the platformer and a huge swathe of the audience was raised, in one form or another, on the famed plumber’s adventures.

Players can create underwater mazes for Mario.

That means they understand the grammar of fun involved in the gameplay. Everyone grasps the language of Super Mario Bros. Games. Players kick Koopa shells. They grab the mushrooms to grow larger. They gain extra height by carefully timing a jump off a foes back. If gameplay were a tongue, then Miyamoto’s platformer would be the lingua franca.

And that’s what makes Super Mario Maker so exciting. It’s simple enough that players can easily construct a level using the Wii U Gamepad’s touch-screen. Players can tap an icon for a Bullet Bill-shooting cannon and they can have dozens of them on the stage. They can paint bricks across a level to create a maze for regular Mario. Unlike LittleBigPlanet, it’s simple and direct. Sure, you won’t be able to minutely modify an enemy behavior or add new actions to switches, but players can make effective and creative stages with the tools at hand.

The New Super Mario Bros. palette is available, but don’t expect a raccoon power-up.

Complementing the easy-to-use creation, Super Mario Maker also has other tools to help players fine tune a level. They can test a stage and see the trajectory of Mario jump, so they can carefully place landing blocks. But the most exciting addition is the ability to switch the palettes of the world. Players can make a level and instantly switch how it looks among the styles of Super Mario Bros. , Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. U. Just be aware though that some power-ups are exclusive to each visual touch. Don’t expect raccoon Mario in the original game or a Flying Squirrel Suit in Super Mario World. Although interestingly enough, the games do share some enemies regardless of timeline. I saw a Wiggler that first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3 in Super Mario Bros palette. The move sets are also specific to each generation. You can do wall jumps and spins in the newer games but they won’t appear in the older ones.

Along with the crossover among enemies, there’s also the ability to experiment with power-ups and put enemies in unfamiliar positions. For example, players can put Goombas underwater and they act almost like Blooper the squid, chasing Mario down whenever he veers close. Players can make giant Buzzy Beetles by letting them grab a mushroom. There’s even the possibility of putting wings on Bullet Bills though that doesn’t make a lot of sense exactly.

Stages can have an unbelievable amount of difficulty where Mario has to avoid spikes and enemies.

For those with amiibos, players can unlock custom skins for Super Mario Maker. Using a Link unlocks a Legend of Zelda palette, where Mario can be dressed as the wielder of the Master Sword and the stage has visuals that echo the original NES adventgure. It still plays like a Mario game though.

If you don’t want to create levels, Super Mario Maker gives players plenty of opportunity to tackle unique levels. The game comes with stages designed for the recent Nintendo World Championship. Fans can also tackle 100 Mario Mode and 10 Mario Challenge. The former gives players 100 lives to go through several random stages while the latter lets players do the same thing with 10 lives. Completing the 100 Mario Mode will unlock the skins without an amiibo character.

With Super Mario Maker, there’s the potential for unbridled creativity, but to share those levels, players will have to beat them first. Nintendo said there’ll be plenty of way to search through the thousands of stages that will undoubtedly get made. Players can follow creators they like. They can also favorite levels they like. There are other ways to dig through the best stages, but fans can find that out when the game comes out Sept. 11.

When Civilization: Beyond Earth was released, I wanted to like it. Firaxis Games, the team behind the turn-based strategy game, has an impeccable pedigree. The developer is responsible for the phenomenal Civilization series and its latest science fiction-flavored title was… Continue Reading →

When Civilization: Beyond Earth was released, I wanted to like it. Firaxis Games, the team behind the turn-based strategy game, has an impeccable pedigree. The developer is responsible for the phenomenal Civilization series and its latest science fiction-flavored title was supposed to be the spiritual successor to Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri. The only problem was that Beyond Earth felt too bare bones compared to the group’s past efforts. Diplomacy was too simplistic and the fiction lacked the lore to make the world feel concrete.

Thankfully, they’re fixing those flaws with the Rising Tide expansion pack. The upcoming add-on improves on several areas of the game, coloring in the parts that needed depth. The most immediate change I noticed during my 150-turn hands-on preview was the new civilization.

Duncan Hughes is the leader of the NorthSea Alliance, a colony that specializes in seasteading.

LIFE IS BETTER DOWN WHERE IT’S WETTER: I took control of the North Sea Alliance, which is lead by Duncan Hughes. That colony stayed on Earth a while longer than others and specialized on building their cities on the ocean. This twist opens up a whole other world of opportunities. Now, the seas aren’t just a zone for troop transport and trade. It can now be colonized and it’s full of resources.

“Water is separate but equal” to land, said Andrew Fredriksen, lead producer for Rising Tide. “Water cities have different states. Water generates less unhealth. It produces more energy.”

Because there are resources such as Firaxite, coral and float stones in the ocean, the team had to overhaul the visuals when it came to the water. Players can now peer beneath the surface and see the chitin, tubers and other treasures of the deep. It also gives an outline on the spots a player’s floating city can initially travel. Yup, that’s right. Seasteading colonies can move, but the trip one tile over takes two turns and players can’t produce buildings. The shift is how the NSA expands its borders.

Although life on the ocean sounds easier, it does have its hazards. Players still have to be wary of aggressive aliens. They also must worry about ferrying their troops across the water. They should be escorted by patrol boats and other naval units, which are built faster by the NSA. It’s one of their perks.

In the open seas, they’ll encounter new aliens. Fredriksen there are at least four, which includes the Makara, a creature that can go on land and sea. There are also hydracoral, which are mostly docile monsters that can act like a barrier blocking off parts of the ocean. One of the small but appreciable improvements Firaxis made is the raiding of alien nests. Players have to specifically hit a button that removes that creature-spawning tile. That move harvests the resources and makes that colony a target for the natives.

There are a lot of resources lurking under the sea all this time. Who knew?

DIPLOMACY OVERHAULED: That transparency is a guiding force behind a lot of the new mechanics in Rising Tide. The concept takes a central role in diplomacy, which is the other pillar of improvement in the expansion pack. This time around, Firaxis outlines each relationship level that each colony has with another. They can be at a state of war, sanctioned, neutral, cooperative or allied. Players will always know where they stand with another civilization.

Introducing a new mechanic, the team added a resource called Diplomatic Capital. Over the course of the campaign, other factions will ask for open borders in exchange for this. Diplomatic Capital can be used for agreements that let players borrow a perk of another civilization though it’s a toned-down version. They can even use Diplomatic Capital to adjust the personality traits of their leader. This is where Rising Tide gets interesting.

Because Firaxis isn’t working with established figures, players have free rein to build the traits of their leaders as they see fit. There are four categories: indefatigable, political, domestic and military. There are dozens of perks for each one. For example, the humanitarian perk on the domestic trait lets players boost the food yield of cities by 8 percent. That number can be increased but it will cost more Diplomatic Capital.

Along with the personality traits, there is a separate Affinity that players have to guide their civilization through. This time around, there are more nuanced Affinities players can choose from. In one instance, they can be pure Supremacy and get a +1 to production from node improvements, but interestingly enough, they can go the Supremacy-Harmony path, which gives a boost of health for every hybrid military unit.

Lastly, there’s a meter that measures respect and fear. These will partially motivate other leaders when it comes to negotiations. If players build a large military and flex that muscle against other civilizations, that will make the fear meter jump up. Respect reflects more of a relationship history. If players have consistently allied with country, they’re more likely to approve agreements and other deals.

Arshia Kishk leads the Middle Eastern faction, which had a different approach to space travel.

A RICHER, COMPELLING WORLD: The last major improvement I noted was the lore of Beyond Earth. Because this sci-fi title doesn’t have history to inform and give texture to the world, Firaxis had to create it using interesting backstory for each faction. The NSA learned to seastead on Earth before traveling to the new planet. Meanwhile, the Al Falah lead by Arshia Kishk is a Middle Eastern civilization that traveled without the benefit of cryogenics. That means she and other members of her people have never been on a planet as each generation lived and died on the ship before arriving to their destination. Because they lived on the ship, their perk allows them to be more efficient converting resources.

Adding more concreteness to the world are items called artifacts. They can be obtained through rifling through resource pods, by raiding alien nests or other actions. Items such as the Silver-point Navigation Gyroscope or the Soap Seed have a history to them. The gyroscope reportedly points to earth while the Soap Seed is a special alien item found on the planet. Players can combine the artifacts and unlock new perks, unit upgrades and even buildings. They’re almost like Great Persons or Great Works in Civilization V.

Another element that adds a layer of storytelling to Rising Tide is the quest system. In Beyond Earth, it was novel in the first playthrough but the same scenarios kept repeating on subsequent campaigns. Firaxis tried to add variety by pushing more Affinity-specific quests. There are also six marvel quests that players can discover. They have huge rewards. There’s one quest for each biome and one in the water. They randomly generate for each campaign but there’s usually two at the most.

The one I ran into involved the Hydracoral Overmind. Once I found it, the creature unlocks a mission where players investigate similar aliens. The resulting power-up lets players see through hydracoral on the planet giving them a tactical advantage. They’re easy to complete and every faction can obtain it. Meanwhile, other questlines take place over generations and players will have to deal with descendants who may be decades or even centuries apart.

From what I played, the Rising Tide is shaping up to be a richer Beyond Earth experience. It’s an add-on that could fulfill this entry’s enormous promise.

Seth Killian has been working in and out of the fighting game for years. Between organizing EVO and helping to improve fighting game franchises, he’s seen his fare share of the business. But now, he’s working on a new project… Continue Reading →

Seth Killian has been working in and out of the fighting game for years. Between organizing EVO and helping to improve fighting game franchises, he’s seen his fare share of the business. But now, he’s working on a new project with Radiant Entertainment.

It’s still in the genre he’s familiar with but Killian is taking a different approach. “Why don’t more people play fighting games?” he asked. “For a lot of people, they’re a way of life. But others, they look at fighting games as this weird area. The execution barrier is high. In some cases, it takes weeks or months to be competent with a character.”

But he and Radiant are working to changes those problems with Rising Thunder, a new PC title that pits giant robots in an epic one-on-one brawl. It seems conventional but the big twist is that this fighting game is built from the ground up to be played online.

THE BARRIERS TO ENTRY: The way Killian explained it fighting games have so much potential to be something more, but the genre is closed off from the masses because of three problems. The first issue is that the moves are difficult to pull off. He’s referring to half-circle and quarter-circle motions that are often used to toss out fireballs or other special moves. For novices, learning those moves and executing them takes a discouraging amount of practice.

The second obstacle is that online play isn’t seen as a serious platform for competition. The fighting game is a genre that relies on split-second timing and lag often makes fair head-to-head play difficult. It’s hard to show off true skill when the lag throws off the reaction for a move. It’s like trying to play basketball on gravel.

The third issue is the cost and investment. Some people don’t have $400 to invest in a console or $200 on an arcade fighting stick. Add the $60 per title and the price of delving into the genre is too much for some.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS: Rising Thunder tackles these issues in several ways. First off, the controls are simplified. Instead of rolling joysticks into a complicated motion, those special moves are performed with a press of a key. The game has six buttons: Three are the quick, medium and strong attacks and the other three are the three special moves for the characters. That means no remembering the list of moves. Players can fight on instinct and cunning. The moves also show a cool-down period, so players know how long they’ll have to recover before they toss out another fireball attack. They also have dedicated throw and Super attack buttons.

“Youre spending brain cycles” on how to do moves, said Tom Cannon, CEO of Radiant Entertainment. The new scheme “lets players think about strategy.”

Because it’s an online game, Rising Thunder faces a second issue — lag. But that’s mitigated because Cannon’s brother happens to be Tony Cannon, the developer behind GGPO. The middleware allows for near-lagless play using a netcode technique called “rollback.” The game also takes advantage of being online and on two screens. It creates some asynchronous moments in the match that couldn’t happen on a shared screen. For example, a character can go completely invisible and not be seen on his opponents monitor. Meanwhile, the person who performed the move will see his character clear as day. When calling in fireballs from the sky, there can be a more convincing bluffs with parts of the screen marked.

A BIT OF HEARTHSTONE AND LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: From what I heard, it sounds as though Killian and Cannon are following the League of Legends model for monetizing Rising Thunder . The game is free to play and the business will be built around cosmetics. That gives the project a broad audience but what opens it up even more is the preferred interface. Cannon and Killian say the keyboard is the primary controller because everyone has one of those. The fact that players don’t have to to quarter circles and dragon punch motions means that it’s a viable scheme. The concept actually works. As for those who are used to the Xbox 360 or arcade sticks, don’t worry. The game will support those as well.

Although there’s a League of Legends vibe going on with the cosmetics, Rising Thunder seems to have a Hearthstone element to it. The game rewards players who constantly fight in matches by giving them alternative special moves called variants. Yes, this is a fighting game that lets players customize a loadout for their characters before a brawl. They can switch out three special moves for other variations.

It slightly changes up how a robot plays, but doesn’t alter the fundamental concepts behind the character. A zone fighter will have variation moves that focus on controlling the space between fighters but the variants let them do it in other ways. A grappling character will have special moves designed to get it close to the target that could be leaping in the air or rushing on the ground. It’s up to the players to decide which variants they want to use.

Rising Thunder lets players put these moves in three predefinied slots. That means players can’t go crazy and make a fighter with three different fireballs or three anti-air moves. This could be a game-changing concept, which adds a wildcard to a fight because opponents don’t know what loadout their foe has coming into a match. They’ll discover it on the fly.

It creates an opportunity for players to get creative with the robots they master. It reminds me of how players can pick a hero in Hearthstone but assemble different decks that take advantage of the cards and powers available to that character. It adds a new twist that the genre desperately needs.

OTHER TIDBITS: As for other elements of the fighting system, players will be able to dash toward and away from enemies. The juggling system is more open with a hard limit of five hits before a player lands. There’s also a metered ability called Kinetic, which can be used offensively or defensively. It allows players to cancel out of a move so they can escape an attack of extend a combo. Expect damage scaling and dizzy scaling in the system, and lastly, there’s no comeback mechanic. Don’t expect any ultra-centric combos.

What the Radiant team is trying to do is widen the appeal of fighting games by lowering the barrier of entry and expanding the strategy so players can have more ownership in how they develop their fighters. If it manages to catch on, it can be a open up the genre to a bigger audience.

Own a PlayStation 4 long enough and you’ll eventually run into a problem: You have too many games and not enough spaces. Players will have to make space for Batman: Arkham Knight by deleting The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from… Continue Reading →

Own a PlayStation 4 long enough and you’ll eventually run into a problem: You have too many games and not enough spaces. Players will have to make space for Batman: Arkham Knight by deleting The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from their hard drives. The process of constantly deleting older games for newer ones can be tedious, especially if you like to go back and replay them.

Fortunately, there are a few solutions for this problem. Players can purchase a 2 terabyte solid state drive for $4,000; they can pick up a regular 2TB hard drive for about $100; or they can just solve their space issues with the Nyko Data Bank.

The Nyko Data Bank costs about $40 but the hard drive is sold separately.

The $40 peripheral, which doesn’t include a hard drive, allows users to install a 3.5-inch drive onto their system instead of the normal 2.5-inch drive. That’s beneficial for two reasons: The 3.5-inch hard drives made for desktops are usually cheaper than their smaller counterparts used for laptops and 3.5-inch hard drives have potential for more space. Instead of topping out at 2TB, gamers can find 3.5-inch drives that hold 4TB, 5TB and 6TB of data. In all hopes, that should be enough to hold over players until the next generation of systems.

When I first got the Data Bank, I was nervous about doing surgery on my PS4. I’ve upgraded other systems before and I have had success. The big difference was that this is a $399 machine. The transfer over to the Nintendo 3DS to the New Nintendo 3DS was cumbersome but manageable. I boosted the capacity on the PlayStation 3, which required me to get an enclosure and do a bunch of downloads and transfers. Before doing anything, I downloaded all my save files to a USB stick. After that, it was time to get to work.

Behold the PS4 hard drive with a neat PlayStation-inspired screw holding it all in.

Surprisingly, accessing the PS4 hard drive is easy. All I had to do is slide the glossy cover atop the console off and you can see the hard drive. (BTW, common sense says you turn off the console and unplug the system before doing all this.) The hard drive is held in with a fancy PlayStation-style screw. I just removed it and pulled out the old hard drive. If I were to replace it with another 2.5-inch drive, I’d have to plug in a new one and install a fresh system update. But with the Data Bank, there’s an adapter users slide in and that connects to the hulking piece of plastic that encloses the 3.5-inch hard drive.

For my upgrade, I went with a Seagate 4TB solid state hybrid drive. I pushed it into the Data Bank and connected the cables, and I was finished. Afterward, I had to connect a power adapter to the back of the PS4 that gives juice to the new hard drive and I was set. Almost.

Slide the hard drive in and connect the cables and you are halfway there.

With a blank hard drive, users still need to go through a final step. That’s downloading a complete and fresh system update onto a second USB stick from the official PlayStation site. You can find the file here. Slap that onto a USB stick and plug it into a PS4 and the system should start up and install that update. The instructions that come with the Data Bank were easy to follow. They are lableled A, B and C, and I followed them in that order.

Once the system was up and running, which takes less than 15 minutes, I had to redownload everything — games, applications, you name it. Remember that USB file with all those saves? I transferred them. I put that back on the PS4 so I could continue finishing all the quests in Witcher 3. That’s a lot of my life right there.

Here is the size of my new hard drive after I redownloaded my old games. I have 3TB left.

For the past week, the Nyko Data Bank has worked fine with some caveats. The first thing is that loading can be slower or it can be off in places. The other issue is that Nyko suggests that you should work with a 2TB hard drive. Using a hard drive with more space than that (like I did) makes some PS4 features such as Rest Mode glitchy. Now, instead of turning it off normally, I just completely shut the system down and start it back up each time. In the long run, it’s a small price to pay for the convenience of not having to worry about deleting and redownloading games every time you pick up a new release.

Until high-capacity solid state drives get cheaper or laptop hard drives expand in size, the Nyko Data Bank is your best bet if you want a large upgrade for the PS4 hard drive.

With the holiday season approaching, Anki is gearing up to release the successor of its popular toys-to-life game. The company cleverly turns the genre on its head, so that instead of letting the toy cars be lifeless figurines, the playthings… Continue Reading →

With the holiday season approaching, Anki is gearing up to release the successor of its popular toys-to-life game. The company cleverly turns the genre on its head, so that instead of letting the toy cars be lifeless figurines, the playthings are the star of the game. Using some high-tech robotics and software, the vehicles zip around a track like next-gen radio-controlled cars.

The first iteration, Anki Drive, showed the concept worked, but the follow-up fleshes that idea out. I checked out Anki Overdrive a few months ago and came away impressed with the idea that players can easily build their own tracks thanks to pieces that snap together via magnets. The second-generation vehicles learn the course, and afterward, players can race away. I had another look at the game recently and learned more details about the upcoming release, including the Sept. 20 launch date.

Meet the commanders, the AI-controlled opponents that you must defeat on the track.

On the software side, Anki Overdrive is shaping up to be a fairly deep offering. The game, which is played using the toy cars and plastic tracks, is controlled using an iOS or Android device. Players tilt the smartphone or tablet and the cars turn in that direction. They can use the touch-screen to slam on the throttle or slow it down. There are two buttons: One is to fire each a vehicle’s specialized weapon and the second is to unleash its ability.

At the beginning, gamers create their own avatar, and they’ll have to race 25 commanders in a tournament to become the Overdrive champion in the single-player mode. That will pit them against characters such as Sniper, Sever and Apeocalypse, who each have their own personalities and driving styles. They have their own favorite track setups and vehicles. They’ll also happen to be tough to beat.

Being familiar with racing games on consoles, I expected to do well. But it took some adjustment figuring out the controls with a toy car that darts along right in front of you. You have to get down the idea of slowing down on curves and speeding up on straightaways. Steering isn’t nearly as important because the CPU regulates all the vehicles so that keeping the supercars stay inside the track.

Players can build tracks of up to 60 pieces, but that could go up in the future.

Of course, the CPU can’t account for everything. There are times when physics and gameplay lead to cars falling off the course. (Hint: Remember to slow down on the curves after the straightaway) That’s when players rush in, grab the supercar from the ground and put it back on track, essentially acting like their own Super Mario Kart Lakitu.

I played the standard race and battle mode. When entering these events, it’s important to keep the vehicle in mind. Because each one comes with different weapons, some may be better than others with different rule sets. For example, Skull has a sniper rifle that can fire from long distances and disable cars in the lead. Meanwhile, Nuke has a short range attack that blasts out in a cone front of it. Ground Shock is surprising good in the battle mode because it has a short area-effect attack that explodes and disables adjacent vehicles. Combine that with its tractor beam that lets it get pulled along, and rivals are in for a world of hurt.

Each vehicle has its own combination of weapons.

Underlying each vehicle is a deep customization system. After each race, players can earn coins and parts that can be used to upgrade their supercar or another one. Parts that don’t fit their current vehicles can be sold in-game or it may nudge players to pick up another miniature ride. What’s even more intriguing is that these pieces have a real-life impact on the toy cars themselves when they hit the track. Vehicles with faster parts virtually installed are able to go faster than they normally would.

In the future, Anki says it plans on adding modes such as a Time Trial and King of the Hill. There’s also set to be various improvements over time. Anki Overdrive isn’t going to be game that developers finish and forget. It’s going to be a living ecosystem that grows. They can add new features or increase the number of maximum players above the current bar set at four.

When it launches, the Anki Overdrive starter set will cost $140 for two supercars and 10 separate FlexTrack pieces. Additional track pieces such as right-angle corners, intersection pieces and a bank turn kit range from $10 to $30. The supercars themselves cost $50.

Genevieve Gagon, Ted Nesseth and Benjamin Howard of the Heavenly States in Austin during SXSW.

The Heavenly StatesWhen: 9 p.m. Thursday, June 11
9:30 p.m. Friday, June 12Where: Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., San Francisco
Tickets: $12 advance, $15 door; www.bottomofthehill.com, 415-626-4455Online: Listen to “Oui Camera Oui” on iTunes, and “Delayer” on Spotify or other online outlets. “HISS” is available at www.theheavenlystates.com.

By Michael Mayermmayer@mercurynews.com

The Heavenly States were on the verge.
The Oakland indie rock band had released its third full-length album, “Delayer,” and it was receiving raves from critics and fellow musicians. Six years of building its brand in Oakland was starting to pay off. They’d been adventurous in their touring as well, becoming the only American rock band to play in Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya.

But existence as rockers just knocking on the door of success was getting tough in the pricey Bay Area. And the Great Recession wasn’t helping matters.
So they packed up the remnants of their East Bay lives and moved to Austin, Texas, in 2012.

“We left ‘Brokeland’ for cheap living and cheaper lovin,” band co-founder Ted Nesseth said in an email interview. “(San Francisco and Oakland) were good to us, and we have strong ties there, so it was hard to leave. But we decided to start up incognito here and try to earn our way into it, and it’s gone well.”

And now they’re making their first trip back, with shows set for Thursday and Friday at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, and they’re bringing with them a work they think is a game-changer. It’s their first full-length album since “Delayer,” and it’s an artistic and technical triumph.

The album is called “HISS,” and even though Nesseth and co-founder Genevieve Gagon want you to hear it, you won’t find it on iTunes, Soundcloud or anywhere else that trades in just musical ones and zeros. Its 25 songs are on vinyl, and vinyl only. Three big, luxuriously weighty slabs of vinyl. It was recorded to 2-inch analog tape, assuring the “warm” tones sought by vinyl aficionados. The band employed three different production houses for the snakeskin-embossed cover and full-color interior and inner sleeves. It’s not inexpensive at $50, but considering that some of the major labels are charging close to $30 for single albums, it’s a fair price.

“And limited releases like these, they not only hold their value, they can double or triple in price,” said Vinny Esparza, a buyer for Amoeba Records in San Francisco.
The band’s decision to skip the digital market was not taken lightly.
“We don’t want to reach everyone. We only want to reach people who want to reach it,” said Nesseth, noting the prevalence of “blasé” listeners who dip in and out of music on the Internet, never really committing themselves to the time needed to absorb a major work like “HISS.”

“We wanted to get a very specific thing made the way we wanted it made as our sort of life achievement for ourselves and a few people. If we can’t do it again, then we can’t do it again.”

Musically, it’s an extension of the sound that had propelled the Heavenly States into the taste-making Noise Pop festival, and onto prestigious concert bills with bands such as Spoon and the New Pornographers. Spoon’s Britt Daniel had placed “Delayer” on a personal Top 10 list he compiled for the Pitchfork website, and he sought out the band to open when Spoon landed a three-night engagement at the Fillmore in 2008.

Their sound leading up to “HISS” had been guitar-riff dominant, borrowing from folk rock and power pop, layered with orchestral elements featuring Gagon’s rich keyboards and distinctive fiddle. It was packed with ear-worm hooks but with more sophisticated arrangements than simple pop usually allows. Lyrics were smart, poetic and dense, and Nesseth and Gagon didn’t shy away from provocative political statements. They ripped oil companies and the war in Iraq, and one song on a 2004 EP was simply a recitation of the names of Iraqi civilians killed in the invasion.

“HISS” moves the band’s sound more toward the orchestral, featuring string arrangements by Gagon and a much more prominent use of her piano. Nesseth’s irresistible guitar riffs are still there, but “HISS” feels like the work of a band that has matured, and the 25 songs run the gamut of emotion and intensity. And Gagon, who had mostly served as a backing singer on earlier releases, takes quite a few lead vocals, and the diversity in voice contributes to the album’s richness.

When the first songs on “HISS” were born, the band had been on a path to release a set of coherent shorter EPs, serving almost as chapters in a serial novel, according to Nesseth. The first, “Oui Camera Oui,” featured some of the band’s strongest songs, including “Berlin Wall,” which showcased Spoon’s Daniel on backing vocals. And the band’s sly sense of humor came to play in the final track, “Careful With That Review, Eugene,” in which comedian Eugene Mirman simply reads withering criticisms of the band from typically toxic Internet comments.
But the move to Austin forced a change in plans, and “HISS” eventually came together as one giant piece.

And if you can set aside the time to listen to it all at once, Nesseth thinks you’ll get the biggest payoff.
“It’s interesting that during this time (of writing and recording the album), binge-watching was born for TV series. We’re just bringing binge to aural consumption,” he said. “Deciding to kick it all to the curb to sit down and read a long book or listen to a big record qualifies as a bold move.”

Skylanders has explored plenty of avenues with its characters. The series has focused giants that can light up and it featured heroes that could be customized. Activision’s developers have made the game more Pokemon-like with the ability to capture enemies… Continue Reading →

Skylandershas explored plenty of avenues with its characters. The series has focused giants that can light up and it featured heroes that could be customized. Activision’s developers have made the game more Pokemon-like with the ability to capture enemies and make them fight for player. But the latest entry to the series, Skylanders SuperChargers, thinks outside the box.

Instead of basing the new series around characters with new powers, the team at Vicarious Visions focused on vehicles. These are toys with moving parts like a cars with wheels, submarines with rudders and planes with propellers that encourage play outside the game. Inside the console the developer built a narrativecampaign, in which Kaos builds another doomsday weapon called the Sky Eater, which devours Skylands. Master Eon recruits a special team of pilots called the SuperChargers (not be confused with the San Diego football team) to stop this nefarious plot.

Fan favorite Stealth Elf returns as Super Shot Stealth Elf with a new weapon called the Thorn Super Sho.

Skylanders Superchargers boasts a bigger portal with support for last year’s Trap Team crystals. The game itself will work with more than 300 existing toys and will continue the leveling process for each one. In the PlayStation 4 demo I saw, a player was battling Stratosfear, the leader of the cloud kingdom Skylantis. He sold out to Kaos and was doing his bidding. Controlling the character Spitfire, the player explored the environment which obscured behind clouds. It created an interesting dynamic where the fog masked what lay ahead and players had to move through the scene carefully.

The on-foot gameplay is classic Skylanders with players battling enemies and solving simple puzzles. It gets more interesting when the player entered an area that required a vehicle. That’s when Spitfire jumped into his racer called Hot Streak and blazed a trail down a road collecting cogs that upgrade the vehicle and battled enemies. This part of SuperChargers reminded me of Sonic Adventure.

Hot Streak and Spitfire go together like peanut butter and jelly.

The car portion of the game isn’t all about speed though. There is some slight puzzle-solving and exploration components. In one area, Spitfire had to ring four bells in a small arena. Players had to jump over ramps and power over hills to find them. It was a good change of pace.

Elsewhere in the demo, the player jumped into Dive Bomber, the submarine. The gameplay for this section was similar to the car-centric speed strip, but the major difference was that the watercraft could dive underwater and ride across the waves. It created several more paths than the usual fork in the road. At the end of the run, players can also discover parts like a new engine or a propeller that will upgrade the vehicle as well.

The best part of the sub level was the boss fight against the Storm Sequencer that was creating havoc throughout the Skylantis level. Players had to lock on to the disaster machine and launch the Dive Bomber’s weapons at it, all while avoiding blasts from the mechanized foe. It looked frenetic but fun. In SuperChargers, the main campaign requires land vehicles and these water and air stages are optional, but they do have some benefit. By destroying the Storm Sequencer in this level, players make the on-foot portion of the stage easier.

The third part of the demo featured the air vehicle Sky Slicer. This branch of the Skylantis level reminded me of Star Fox. There’s the usual flying through rings and collecting cogs mechanics. The team said there will be more wide-open stages though with dogfighting and more freedom of movement.

If you have the Sky Slicer, make sure it’s piloted by Stormblade.

What’s notable is that each vehicle has an elemental affinity. Hot Streak is tied to fire while Dive Bomber is naturally water. Sky Slicer has affinity to air and these vehicles also have a preferred pilot. The aviatrix Stormblade is connected to the plane, and when she’s in it, she gets a power boost. Monsters from Trap Team also provide a short weapon boost if they’re added.

Overall, there will be 20 SuperChargers with 20 vehicles. The Skylanders SuperCharger Starter Pack includes the game and three figures: Hot Streak, Spitfire and Super Shot Stealth Elf. Vehicles will be sold separately for $14.99 and characters will cost $12.99. With the ability to customize your vehicles, there is an opportunity for interesting multiplayer modes, but Vicarious Vision would only confirm the standard two-player co-op.

For the first time, Activision is offering digital version of Skylanders SuperCharger. It will work with any portal from the previous games and the figurines that come with the pack — Spitfire and Hot Streak — will be digital. Players can add their own figures and vehicles later. Unfortunately, the data from digital version of Spitfire and Hot Streak can’t be added to the toy version if you get your hands on them.

With 4K televisions making headway into consumers’ homes, there’s going to be demand for gaming content made for the high-end screens. Unfortunately, there’s no console geared toward that right now. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One both output at high-definition.… Continue Reading →

With 4K televisions making headway into consumers’ homes, there’s going to be demand for gaming content made for the high-end screens. Unfortunately, there’s no console geared toward that right now. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One both output at high-definition. Streaming boxes can output 4K video content but falls short when it comes to games.

At this moment, one of the only way players will be able to experience 4K gaming in the living room is by building a gaming rig. That can be a difficult and expensive task but Corsair has a solution with Bulldog, its upcoming do-it-yourself kit.

“We call it Bulldog because it’s full of muscle and compact,” said Andy Paul, CEO and founder of Corsair. “It’s like an Xbox on steroids.”

The system is dense and includes room for liquid cooling to the CPU and GPU.

The new system features a custom-built chassis that holds a motherboard, liquid cooling for the CPU and a power source unit. The kit includes a Mini-ITX motherboard that is expected to use Intel’s next-gen systems when they’re announced in the fall. Builders will have to supply the CPU, but it will be chilled with a liquid-cooling solution that will ship with the the kit. There’s also room for a liquid-cooled graphics card but the modification will have to be added on after the separate GPU is acquired.

Powering this setup is a 600 PSU, but Paul said that it should be sufficient even with the liquid cooling that’s designed to overclock the CPU and GPU while maintaining a whisper-quiet level sound for the living room. Unfortunately, there won’t be room for Nvidia’s SLI or AMD’s Crossfire tech but the team had to make sacrifices to fit an already large system into the space of a high-end stereo receiver. This is a system that requires just one graphics card, but it will support the massive GPU’s that are almost a foot in length such as Nvidia’s GeForce GTX Titan X card.

The setup is actually quite dense. There’s a lot of tech packed into the DIY kit. Everything is designed to maximize the airflow while features such as the grill keep the noise down. And the water-cooling system that Corsair designed is reportedly easy to install. Like its other products, everything is sealed in this Corsair kit so builders don’t have to worry about liquid spilling all over onto the vital computer parts.

The system boasts a full array of connections including USB 3.0 ports.

When it comes to hard drive space, Paul said there’s space for a 3.5-inch hard drive along with a large Solid State Drive. It’s a smart setup for players who want to speed up their system by keeping their operating system on the SSD while storing their games in larger setup. Players can also pull out the tray so that they can add 2 more SSDs if they so desire.

The whole setup costs $399 while the separate GPU cooling solution will cost $100. For those who are into overclocking, it seems as though this is a value-driven solution that can get players a 4K gaming rig for under $1,000. The liquid cooling can allow builders to push their CPUs and GPUs beyond what they normally can do. The team at Corsair said they can get a 15 percent performance boost from a Titan X stock card with the liquid-cooling modification. That extends to comparable graphics card where they said a liquid-cooled, overclocked GeForce GTX 970 could match a stock GeForce GTX 980 model.

Essentially, the Bulldog starts where the competitors stop. Although the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are powerful systems in and of themselves, they can’t match the upgradeable options that come with a custom-built PC. Personally, I’ve playedWitcher 3: The Wild Hunton Corsair’s 4K setup, and it looks gorgeous. It puts what the consoles can do to shame. There’s detail in every strand of hair and every stalk of grass. It makes an already great game look even better.

And with virtual reality on the horizon, this could be a solution to look into when that technology eventually takes off even if it takes up a massive space in the living room. The unit is enormous compared with its rival consoles. But for a particular type of hard-core gamer who doesn’t mind the size factor while appreciating the quieter sound, it could be just the ticket.

Although much of Disney Infinity 3.0 news is dominated by the addition of Star Wars, that doesn’t mean the House of Mouse is ignoring its other properties. At a Pixar event, John Blackburn, senior vice president for the franchise, detailed… Continue Reading →

Although much of Disney Infinity 3.0 news is dominated by the addition of Star Wars, that doesn’t mean the House of Mouse is ignoring its other properties. At a Pixar event, John Blackburn, senior vice president for the franchise, detailed the plan for third game in the series. The play sets will of course include Star Wars: Twilight of the Republic, which focuses on episodes 1 to 3, and Star Wars: Rise Against the Empire, which focuses on Episodes 4 to 6. Beyond that, there will be a Star Wars: The Force Awakens play set in the future.

On the comic book side, a Marvel play set is in the works, but the reason I was in Emeryville was to check out Pixar and Avalanche Software’s upcoming offering for the Disney Infinity 3.0 lineup — Inside Out. It’s a different type of film from the studios other ventures in the fact that most of the conflict takes place in the head of Riley, a young girl, and the main characters are emotions that guide her: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. That gives the movie a fantastic Phantom Tollbooth feel as it explore the inner workings of her mind and those whimsical elements extend to the Disney Infinity campaign.

There are 2-D side-scrolling stages in addition to exploratory 3-D ones.

“What I want to focus on is that we want to create a great story,” said game director Troy Leavitt. With that in mind, the developer didn’t want to rehash the film, so instead, the campaign takes place after the movie. Riley falls asleep in front of the TV and inadvertently switches the channel to a scary movie and her imagination goes out of control. It’s up to the five emotions to fix the problem before Riley wakes up. That takes the crew through 29 dreamlike levels.

The play set will feature two Disney Infinity figurines, Joy and Anger, with the other three being able for purchase separately. Players don’t need to buy them to complete the campaign, but they make the experience easier because each emotion has its own distinct power that’s useful in this platformer. Joy has a gliding jump. Disgust has a tall vertical jump when bouncing on clouds. Fear can run faster than the others. Anger can walk across lava without getting hurt while Sadness can stroll on clouds without them disappearing. (They do vanish for other emotions.) All five character have a close-up attack and a ranged one.

Not all enemies need to be attacked. For example, players can lure this bull so it charges off a ledge.

Players will have to use those powers to solve puzzles in this adventure focusing more on cerebral puzzle-solving than quick-twitch action. Players will have to jump across platforms in both 3-D levels and 2-D side-scrolling ones. The level design in three-dimensional stages remind of Skylanders except most of it is focused on finding keys to activate bridges or other parts of the level. There’s some combat sprinkled through but the star of show is the simple puzzles and the imaginative world. Each environment is unexpectedly huge with multiple paths and obstacles like rolling balls or angry bulls that chase players around an area.

The side-scrolling stages are reminiscent of a Super Mario Bros. game, but the developers at Avalanche Software play around with gravity. The 2-D levels are topsy turvy with players being able to jump underneath a platform and go through part of the stage upside down. With a simple leap, players can go from strolling right-side up to walking around upside down.

Platforming can get topsy turvy with interest twists on platforming.

Because it takes place in Riley’s mind, each stage echoes part of her history. Players will see parts of San Francisco and Minnesota in places. They’ll be jumping on flip flops that double as platforms or crossing rainbow bridges. There is a unbridled creativity in the levels as players try to collect balloons to increase their score and light bulbs that help unlock play pieces that can be used in the Toy Box mode. The Disney Infinity play set even includes a music-themed land that the film’s creators wanted to put in the movie but couldn’t find a place for. That level features platforming centered on rhythm and musical notes.

The Inside Out play set is meant to be both cooperatively with two people. A duo has to use teamwork and leverage each other’s powers to get through a stage more easily. In one instance, Anger can carry Joy across lava and afterward Joy can take Anger across a gap. For competitive players, there is a leaderboard that tracks the best time and highest scores for a two-person team. Hard-core players may even discover minor differences in the emotions like Disgust being able to throw faster than the others. Lastly, for those not into platforming, there’s a puzzle-centric minigame that unlocks after the first part of the game.

Disney Infinity 3.0’s Inside Out play set is due out in the fall for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

There was a time when Apple and Google were allies. The iPhone once used Google Maps as its default direction-finder and YouTube sat prominently on the homescreen. But that kind of harmony has fallen to the wayside as the Silicon… Continue Reading →

There was a time when Apple and Google were allies. The iPhone once used Google Maps as its default direction-finder and YouTube sat prominently on the homescreen. But that kind of harmony has fallen to the wayside as the Silicon Valley giants have become rivals on several fronts. They have competing Web browsers (Safari vs. Chrome) and smartphone operating systems (iOS vs. Android). In this epic tech battle, there’s a new front opening up — the third screen.

That’s how Ali Kani, general manager of Nvidia’s Shield division, describes this emerging space. The first display was the personal computer and that technology revolutionized the second display, which is mobile phone. Now, it is television’s turn to change with the help of the computer chip, and Apple and Google are both jockeying for position to offer the most attractive device. At Google IO, the company offered a fuller glimpse of what it is doing with Android TV. It’s going to push the platform on a wider array of products such as TVs and standalone devices.

Nvidia sees an opening in this fight for the living room. It already caters to a tech-savvy audience who has already cut the cord and streams content to TVs. With that in mind, the company known for making bleeding-edge graphics card has decided to make a device that not only satisfies users media-consuming needs, but also their gaming needs. That’s the thought behind the Nvidia Shield Android TV.

Once a PC exclusive, The Talos Principle will launch first on Nvidia Shield before it hits consoles.

I had a chance to check out the device and came away impressed with the utility of what Nvidia calls “The flagship of Android TV.” It packs serious horsepower with the Tegra X1 chip and is the only box at the moment that will stream 4K Netflix content. If you have one of those new ultra high-definition monitors in your living room, this is a must-buy. The Nvidia Shield will show off that sharp picture and it can even run some of that content at 60 frames per second as long as it’s done via internal memory.

Aside from the 4K support, the big draw for the device is that it is close to being that all-in-one system that can access all the services cord cutters want. There are Android TV apps for Sling, Netflix, Google Play Music, YouTube and a host of other content providers. But if you can’t find those native apps, users can just stream it via built-in Googlecast. (It’s essentially Chromecast.) For example, Crunchyroll doesn’t have an Android TV app nor does Amazon Video, but it’s easy to stream it from my Chromebook. (Unfortunately, it didn’t work with my iPhone.) Today, Google announced that HBO Now, CBS and Fox Family apps will be available on Android TV. And for those who use antennas to get over-the-air signals, there is support for HDHomeRun, which turns the Shield into a DVR that can record broadcast signals with help of a tuner.

What’s even more impressive is the voice search. Of all the voice-command devices I’ve used, Google’s is by far the best. It often correctly understands what I’m saying and inputs it into the search bar, and it does so intelligently. Say I’m looking for Johnny Depp movies. I’ll say, “Find my Johnny Depp movies” and a lineup of his work appears on the screen with different ways I can watch it thanks to cross-app search. I can ask it to filter the findings to the most recent flicks and it will do that. And like Amazon Echo, you can even ask Android TV how tall Mount Everest is and it will give you the right answer. It’s smart voice search that will help you navigate the interface without slowly pecking through a virtual keyboard.

Hotline Miami is an indie title that’s available on Nvidia Shield. The system also supports a mouse and keyboard, which is the best control scheme for the title.

As for the gaming aspect, the Nvidia Shield offers a plethora of ways to play. Players can access casual or core games through the Nvidia Shield Hub or Google Play Game store. Not all Android games will work on the device. I couldn’t get the puzzle game Threes, which I purchased on an old Android phone, to install on the device.

I tried out Nvidia Grid and the streaming service works great. It was one of the better-than-expected features. The games looked good with some artifacts, and the lag wasn’t bad. I could even play some fighting games such as Street Fighter X Tekken on it. I wouldn’t recommend playing tournaments on the device, but it works well enough for the casual fan.

For those who have one of the latest Nvidia graphics cards, the streaming works decently. I’m not sure if it was my WiFi connection or my PC, but the GameStream functionality wasn’t stable. I’ll experiment with it more later. As for games native to the system, I haven’t had time to play with it much, but from what I’ve seen, the visuals are comparable to past generation of consoles. And best of all, the system allows up to four players and supports multiple control schemes such as a PS4 controller so users don’t have to stick with Nvidia’s stock gamepad or remote.

Nvidia Shield Android TV launches today. It’s priced at $199 for a version of 16GB. The Shield Pro, which has 500GB of onboard storage, costs $299 and includes Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The company is also offering a $30 Google Play gift card and a $30 Google Play Music subscription for a limited time.